Method of salvaging battery lead



lApril 9, 1946. H A, ALPERT 27,398,275

METHOD 0F SALVAGING BATTERY LEAD Filed May 19, 1945 c IIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIIIII IIIIIIIIIIIIIII T\\\\A /IIIIIIIIIIIJI Patented Apr. 9, 19.46

UNITED sTATEs PATENT oFFlc-E 2,398,275 METHOD F sALvAGiNG BATTERY LEAD yHarry A. Alpert, Indianapolis, Ind.

Application May 19, 1943, Serial No. 487,667

(Cl. 13G-174) 3 Claims.

This invention relates to means for salvaging lead from storage batteries. Heretofore storage batteries which have been junked have presented a difllcult problem of economically opening the battery cases in order to permit removal of the grids and connectors. Two grades of lead are' to be obtained from the old batteries, namely, the inferior grade, in so far as purity of the lead is concerned, in the plates or grids, and the higher grade of lead in the terminal posts, outside connector bars, and the inner plate connecting bars.

Heretofore the battery boxes have been broken open by Sledge hammers or chopped open withaxes, such operations requiring a considerable amount of time which is quite expensive, particularly at the present schedule of wages` Not only was considerable time expended, but the job was considerably messy with acid and plate material flying out over the worker. The battery boxes themselves present no material worth salvagins.

My invention has a primary advantage in that the battery box is sawed open in one operation which simultaneously separates the two grades of lead, one from the other, all in one operation. Moreover in respect to the heretofore method of breaking the battery boxes' open, around live hundred batteries may be handled per hour as compared to not over twenty by the old method, all of which means that the battery lead may be recovered at a much lower cost than heretofore.

Referring to the drawing,

Fig. 1 illustrates a battery in end elevation placed on a table on its side with the sawing operation initiated;

Fig. 2, a view in perspective of the opened top end of the battery box; and

Fig. 3, a view in perspective of the under side of the battery cover as severed from the box.

Like characters of reference indicate like parts in the several views in the drawing.

The battery IIL'from Which the lead is to be salvaged, is placed upon any suitable conveyor or table II on its side to have its bottom against a guide or stop I2. A saw, preferably a, band saw I3 is arranged to travel vertically in the path of the battery I0 as it may be shifted on the table II. The spacing between the saw I3 and the guide I2 is made to be such for the particular size and type of battery that the plane of the saw will be located to be spaced outwardly from the plane of the top edges of the plates I4 within the battery box I5. Furthermore, the path of th saw I3 is located to be not only in spaced relatlo from the normally top edges of the plates Il but also between those plate edges and the normally under sides of the plate connectors I6 and II.

The battery III is fed or pushed on across thev table I I in any suitable manner, either automatically or manually, until the saw I3 has cut entirely through the battery box I0 from end to end to form two portions as indicated in Figs. 2 and 3. Referring to Fig. 2, the box l5 has been cut through to leave the lead plates within the various cells of the box in their normal positions. The saw cut is made through the lug portions I8 of the various plates Il whereby the minimum cutting of lead is made. By upending the box I5, the severed plates may be shaken out of the box I5 without further manipulation. 'The upper portion of the box. shown in Fig. 3, carries the plate connectors I6 across the one side and connectors Il across the other side. The posts I9 from these connectors extend on through the cell covers of the box to carry the battery terminals the plates left in the box I 5.

20 and 2I and also the intercell connectors 22 and 23.

All of the lead carried by this top severed section is of a higher degree oi purity than that of This lead carried by the cover portion may be separated therefrom by one or more sharp blows to cracks the cover part away from the lead. i

Preferably the battery is initially drained of acid. As the saw I3 passes through the box, there is no uncontrolled splashing of acid over the operator. It is therefore to be seen that by the method of this invention, one simple sawing operation opens up the battery box without the heretofore repeated blows required to batter open the box. Moreover, the cell plates are left in position in the box I5 whereby they may be readily dumped out into convenient tote boxes or the like for transportation without further handling.

I claim: 1. The method of salvaging lead from storage batteries which comprises sawing through the 2. That method of removing the lead plates.

plate connectors, terminal posts, and cell connectors from the box of a storage battery for salvage purposes, which comprises draining the batt" tery, placing the battery on its side and moving the battery across the path of a saw to have the battery which consist in cutting througn the battery box and plate lugs in substantially a. plane between the top edges of the battery plates and the under sides of the plate connectors, and breaking away from the lead the severed battery box parts.

HARRY A. ALPERT. 

